Working To Catch Up

Pepsi 400

Dale Jarrett Hopes To Get Rolling Again At Daytona, Where He Has Had Much Success.

July 6, 2001|By Shannon Rose, Sentinel Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- A few months ago Dale Jarrett compared the start of the NASCAR season to the feeling of his 1999 championship run.

And it made sense. He finished in the top 10 six times during the first eight races, and three were victories. Jarrett vaulted into the NASCAR Winston Cup point-standings lead, erasing a 22nd finish in the Daytona 500 caused by a late-race melee.

When Jarrett won his first championship two years ago, he did it by nickel-and-diming his way behind top-five and top-10 efforts. He won just four races that season but drove to 24 top-fives.

Of course, ask Jarrett about the similarities now, and he'll laugh.

"We didn't have quite the problems in '99 that we've had, but every season has something different," Jarrett said as he waited in his hauler Thursday.

The last few weeks have been plenty different for Jarrett and his No. 88 Ford team. After nine consecutive weeks of leading the series point standings, Jarrett slipped to second three weeks ago, and new leader Jeff Gordon has extended his lead each race, now holding a 126-point edge.

The reasons vary from tire trouble to race mishaps such as spinning out twice at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. A season-worst 26th at Sears Point in Sonoma, Calif., on June 26 and an 18th at Michigan were all the opening Gordon needed to secure the lead and also tighten teammate Ricky Rudd's spot right behind Jarrett to 19 points.

Jarrett and Robert Yates Racing are hoping the driver's luck will change starting with Saturday's Pepsi 400. The team has produced great runs at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. Jarrett owns one Pepsi 400 and three Daytona 500 victories. Last year he sat on the pole for both events.

He almost had a rare repeat performance in the Pepsi last year. However, Jeff Burton blocked his way to victory, and Jarrett had to settle for second. In the past four years, Jarrett has three top-five finishes at Daytona.

"It seems like we could win at this track easier than we could at any other," said Yates, who has 48 victories as a car owner.

Jarrett, who was given his biggest break in 1996 when Yates fielded a new team and made him the driver, hasn't won since April 8 when he captured the Virginia 500 at Martinsville. But he will wheel out an old reliable car to try to break his bad luck streak.

With a new paint scheme and few aerodynamic tweaks, Jarrett's race car will be the same one that took him to Victory Lane in the Daytona 500 last year. After that victory, the car automatically became a tourist attraction at Daytona USA and was returned to Yates Racing after this year's Daytona 500.

This will mark the car's first return to the racetrack.

"I hope it still knows its way around the track," Jarrett joked.

Though qualifying was rained out Thursday, Jarrett took eight laps in the car during a short practice session. He turned a 49.359-second lap at 182.338 mph, placing him ninth.

A strong showing Saturday would give Jarrett a boost as the series heads toward the second half of the season. His focus shifts to leading laps and challenging for position, trying sneak out a few more points at each stop.

Jarrett knows exactly where he is in the point standings and what he has to do to get back his 1999 form.

"To race for the championship, you have to pay attention and you have to race for those points every single week," Jarrett said. "On days where things aren't exactly working, you have to make the most of it and get the most points you can. That's what it's about."

"That's something Dale Earnhardt really talked to me about in 1999 -- you have to race for the championship from the very first race."